Parent group sues for $583; Beaverton School District plans to fight it
After giving an angry speech at the Beaverton School Board meeting about a lack of accountability, parent Linda Nezbeda walked out, and a process server stood up and served Superintendent Jeff Rose with a lawsuit.
Beaverton Community for Education filed a small claims case against Rose and the Beaverton School District on Sept. 21 for $583. It's a small amount for a district with a $423 million operating budget, but they're planning to fight it.
For Nezbeda, president of the parent group Beaverton Community for Education, the lawsuit involving school building use fees isn't about the money.
"Communication, accountability and transparency," Nezbeda said. "We want to see that out of the policy and rule makers in the school district."
Nezbeda has previously come before the board asking for clarification about fees for using district facilities. Beaverton Community for Education runs several free after school programs for kids and has been simultaneously charged and not charged for the programs, depending on the school.
But it was a girls' empowerment summit in June that tipped the scale. Nezbeda claims the district failed to tell her about potential custodian costs to clean up after the Saturday summit and didn't respond when she emailed facility staff with questions.
The parents behind Beaverton Community for Education had spent three months preparing for a girls empowerment summit when they learned the day before the event that they owed the district $583 for 11 hours of custodian labor.
Linda Nezbeda, president of the Beaverton Community for Education parent group is leading the charge in a $583 small claims lawsuit against the school district. Rather than cancel the free event at Mountain View Middle School, which drew 700 girls, or ask them to pay a fee, the parents scrambled to find the $583 facility use fee.
The summit targeted girls from low-income families and was meant to inspire them to stay active and healthy, Nezbeda said.
"I called everyone I could think of," she said. "We just raised it."
The summit was a success, she said, and included Mayor Denny Doyle, Superintendent Jeff Rose and Beaverton record-setting swimmer Michelle Macy.
But the fee perplexed Nezbeda, who said she had previously held legislative forums at Parent group sues for $583; Beaverton School District plans to fight it | OregonLive.com: